Expert: Chris Ebert - 5/5/2009

Question
portfolio recovery collected a debt from southwestern bell thats about 10 yrs old and at an address i never lived at,they said i need to  get a police report from texas i now live in michigan.when i saw it on credit report that address i called southwestern bell and told them i never lived there they checked and saw i was right  they said they would rmove this debt they didnt and now calls from collections begins to get the money i dont owe i explained this they dont care what can i do to stop this .they say it hurts my credit and i looked its so old its not there anymore please help me

Answer
Cindy,

Many debt collectors try to collect on the wrong people.

I would first start back at Southwestern Bell and get them to write you a letter on their letterhead that this debt was not yours. The front line customer service representative may say that they can not write a letter but most supervisors can. If you have been denied financing because of this, you will want to mention this too.

Once you have that letter, then you can send it to whoever is harassing you.